It has been a week for sitting down, moving on, going forward, taking stock and of incredible and absolutely incredible everyday events like rain, scoring a goal, winning a tennis match. Quite an ordinary week, really.
This coming week you must hit the ground running, especially getting out of bed, put on a face, get down to it, step up to the mark and draw a line in the sand.
Do you think and speak in these phrases and ones like them? “In this day and age”, “At this moment in time”, “Six of one and half a dozen of the other”, “You’ve never seen anything like it (in all your life, optional extra)”?
I’ve heard such phrases from adults over the years, but never from children. When do children stop thinking for themselves and start to repeat the adult phrases? It seems to be a pressure adults feel that children don’t. We wait for children to say what they are seeking words for – but we don’t wait for adults. We leap into a hesitation, fill in the words, finish their sentence for them, say “I know exactly what you mean” (when they haven’t finished speaking yet) so that we can talk instead of them.
How do you pray? Does God pressure you into rushing thoughts and words, or give you time to say exactly what you want to say? There is no rush with God, but we rush when saying prayers instead of praying prayers. No need to rush.
St Teresa of Avila sometimes could not go beyond the words “Our Father” because she was filled with the wonder of being able to talk to God. Is Our Lady pleased with the way we might rattle of our compliments to her “full of Grace”, “blessed are you”, “Mother of God”?
Does your prayer fill you with joy? If we could share your prayer would we be inspired? Are you inspired, filled with the spirit of God? Enjoy slow time with God. Jesus did. It’s good to pray.
“At the end of the day, it’s only half-time”. What do you make of that? Does it matter? Words are wonderful, so is silence. Prayer is perfect.
God bless you,
Fr John
Related Links: Popular Reads and Fr John’s Parish Newsletters
